Mid Day International News |
- Protests erupt in Afghanistan over Koran 'burning'
- Palin 'believed Queen was in charge of British forces in Iraq'
- Kiwi Girl Guides set world record with 170,000-bra chain
- Eurozone seals Greek bailout deal
- The Simpsons hit 500
- Whitney's daughter found 'getting high' after the funeral
- Coming this October: Test-tube hamburgers
- Kate goes 'gaga' over hats
| Protests erupt in Afghanistan over Koran 'burning' Posted: Protests erupted outside the main US military base in Afghanistan and in Kabul today over allegations that foreign troops had set fire to copies of the Koran, police said. Thousands of protesters besieged Bagram airbase, north of Kabul, throwing petrol bombs which set fire to a gate, an AFP photographer said. The US commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen, said he had ordered an investigation into a report that troops at Bagram "improperly disposed of a large number of Islamic religious materials which included Korans". "I offer my sincere apologies for any offence this may have caused, to the president of Afghanistan, the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, and most importantly, to the noble people of Afghanistan," he said. A local police official said more than 2,000 people were demonstrating outside the sprawling US-run base. "They are demonstrating over the burning of copies of the Koran inside the base," the official told AFP. Sidiq Siddiqi, an interior ministry spokesman, confirmed the demonstration and said reinforcements were sent to the area, about 60 kilometres (40 miles) north of the capital to prevent possible violence.
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| Palin 'believed Queen was in charge of British forces in Iraq' Posted: America's maverick politician Sarah Palin, infamous for her gaffes, believed it was the Queen, and not then British Premier Gordon Brown, who had decided to keep the UK forces in war-ravaged Iraq, it has emerged. The 48-year-old glamorous former Alaskan governor made the comment during the 2008 presidential campaign as aides to John McCain, then Republican candidate, struggled to coach her on foreign affairs, according to research done for a new film chronicling Palin's brief political rise. In fact, her confusion emerged during a coaching session with Steve Schmidt, a top McCain adviser, who asked Palin what she would do if Britain began to waver in its commitment to the Iraq war, 'The Daily Telegraph' reported. Palin reportedly replied that she would "continue to have an open dialogue" with the Queen. Schmidt informed her that then prime minister Brown, would be responsible for the decision. The incident was revealed during research for Game Change, an HBO "docu-drama" based on a book about the 2008 campaign by two leading American journalists. A Palin spokesman said the film -- with which Palin refused to co-operate -- "distorted, twisted and invented facts to create a false narrative". The incident can be added to a long list of policy gaffes made by Palin during her three months as the Republican vice- presidential candidate. In an infamous series of interviews with Katie Couric, the CBS News anchor, Palin was asked about her claim that Alaska's proximity to Russia gave her an insight into foreign affairs. In her stumbling answer, Palin described how "(Vladimir) Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America".
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| Kiwi Girl Guides set world record with 170,000-bra chain Posted: Girl Guides in New Zealand's town of Dragaville have decided to put it on the map as "Bra-gaville" with their record breaking effort of stringing nearly 170,000 bras together. The last brassiere was hooked to its neighbour late on Sunday night to create the chain of 169,324 supporting undergarments. The chain, laid out in a zig-zag pattern at the town's Memorial Park, was about 135 kilometres long and breaks the previous world record of 166,625 bras set in Australia three years ago, the Herald Sun reported. The project was part of Girl Guides New Zealand and the Breast Cancer Foundation's efforts to raise awareness about breast cancer. It took two years to collect the bras, which were donated from across New Zealand, Australia, Britain and the US. About 100 Girl Guides took two days to connect the bras by their hooks and eyes. Chain instigator Robyn Martinovich said she was happy but relieved the project was over. She said she had seen enough bras to last her a lifetime, and so had her husband. Martinovich had no idea where the suggestion of calling Dargaville "Bra-gaville" came from, but thought it was hilarious. The best bras will be donated to women in the Pacific Islands and Africa. Local politicians will verify the record, the details of which will be sent to the Guinness Book of World Records
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| Eurozone seals Greek bailout deal Posted: Eurozone finance ministers sealed a deal for a massive new bailout of Greece in the early hours of Tuesday, several sources said. "We have the essentials of the deal," a European Union official said, indicating it covered both a write-down of Greek sovereign debt held by private creditors and a related package of guarantees and loans being put up by eurozone governments. The euro immediately jumped against the dollar in Asian trading. The write-down of Greek sovereign debt accepted by private creditors was to be for 53.5 per cent of paper value, 3.5 per cent more than the terms earlier agreed. In October, leaders said a 50-per cent "haircut" would chop 100 billion euros off Greece's 350-billion total debts. Finance ministers also gave their green light to 130 billion euros (USD 171 billion) in loans, in exchange for strict surveillance of the Athens government over coming years. The deal, in doubt during weeks of tough negotiations, finally came after 12 hours of tense talks in Brussels. These saw Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos -- a former European Central Bank No 2 -- act as go-between for ministers with negotiators for private creditors. The agreement will bring government debt in Athens down to 120.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2020, a eurozone governmental source also told AFP. This is just a fraction above the 120-per cent target set by the European Union and International Monetary Fund, and means a 5.5-billion-euro gap in funding was found to bring it down from an estimated 129 per cent according to the latest analysis by international creditors. A deal became urgent because Greece faces 14.5 billion in bond repayments on March 20. Failure to meet this could have been seen as bankruptcy. The euro rose to USD 1.3291, from USD 1.3185 immediately after the news from Brussels. The euro also rose to 105.75 yen after the deal, from 105.43 yen in earlier trade. National eurozone central banks earlier agreed to engage in their own write-down of Greek bonds. Ministers were still working on a final statement to be issued at a press conference that would also cover plans for the EU and the IMF to install teams of officials in Athens to supervise Greek government management of revenues and expenditure. This was to include the setting up of a blocked account that would ensure eurozone governments could be sure they would get their money back, with Greece deep in a fifth year of recession and massive cuts demanded on public sector wages and pensions.
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| Posted: If 300 episodes gets a "Woo-hoo!" and 400 an "Ay caramba!," then 500 is worthy of a full-on Homer drool. With Sunday's episode, The Simpsons, in its 23rd season, hit 500, a nearly unheard-of milestone reached by only two other prime-time scripted series, Gunsmoke (633) and Lassie (588). "I never imagined this," said creator Matt Groening. "I thought it would be a hit with kids. I wasn't sure adults would dig it." There must be some reason for the longevity of the ubiquitous yellow family, which also has a hit movie, a theme park ride and mountains of merchandise, and has gone from being condemned by a president to being blessed by the Vatican.  "I think it's the flexibility of these characters. They can do any kind of comedy anyone ever thought of, from farce to reality," executive producer James L. Brooks says. "For a long time, we didn't want to deal with the fact we could do anything we wanted. There were no sets, no past, no future. The first group of years was spent not taking advantage of any of that [freedom]. Then we started letting it in." Josh Weinstein, who oversaw production in seasons seven and eight, marvels at the show's influence on society. "Now, you have people who use 'Simpsons' quotes in everyday life and to talk about the world. I like to think we unduly influenced them." Executive producer Al Jean, who oversees production of the show, says he's stopped predicting how long The Simpsons can go on. There was talk that the one-time ratings juggernaut, which still averages 7.7 million viewers, might end because of proposed cost-cutting last fall, but "it wasn't as dire as it was portrayed," he said. The new deal will get the show's tally up to 559 episodes. Jean says ideas are still there and thinks economics, not creativity, will be the reason the Emmy-winning series ultimately ends. Producer Mike Reiss says the show "could just go on forever. [It's] a show about the world. We'll run out of material the day the world stops being interesting."
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| Whitney's daughter found 'getting high' after the funeral Posted: Her mother's funeral had just been hours before, but Whitney Houston's daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown was allegedly found doing drugs on Sunday.
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| Coming this October: Test-tube hamburgers Posted: The world's first test-tube burger will be ready to eat within months. It will look, feel and, it is hoped, taste, like a regular quarter-pounder, its creator Mark Post told the world's premier science conference. He plans to unveil the hamburger in October -- and hopes celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal will cook it, although he has yet to approach him.  Representation Pic The 'ethical meat' will would be kinder to the environment than the real thing, reduce animal suffering and help feed the world's burgeoning population. But it will be far from cheap with the prototype burger costing $2,90,000 (Rs 1.42 crore) to produce. Professor Post says that 'everyone' will want to eat the burgers, which, despite their vast initial cost could eventually be priced to match that of real meat. However, it remains to be seen whether a public that likes to think of its chops, steaks and sausages as having their roots in nature will take to meat made in test-tubes. The Maastricht University professor has spent the last six years trying to turn stem cells -- 'master cells' with the power to turn into all other cell types -- into meat. His first attempts involved mouse burgers. He then tried to grow pork in a dish, producing strips with the rubbery texture of squid or scallops, before settling on beef. A four-step technique is used to turn stem cells from animal flesh into a burger. The process is lengthy, as well as expensive, but optimised, it could take just six weeks from stem cell to supermarket shelf. The professor, who is funded by an anonymous but highly-successful benefactor, said: "It's not quite ready, it's going to be presented in October. We are going to provide a proof of concept, showing that out of stem cells you can produce a product that looks like and feels like and hopefully tastes like meat. Seeing and tasting is believing." Researchers say they realise that many will find the idea of eating lab-grown meat unnatural -- but point out that the livestock eaten at the moment is often kept in cramped conditions and dosed with chemicals or antibiotics. Rs 1.42 cr Cost to produce the test-tube 'ethical meat' by Mark Post
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| Posted: Forget Philip Treacy's creation that so embarrassed Princess Beatrice at the Royal Wedding. The Duchess of Cambridge -- who was crowned Hat Person Of The Year 2011 -- has chosen an even more outrageous milliner to make her latest hat.  Erotic designer Piers Atkinson, whose 2010 collection Sex On The Brain featured nudes in the linings and a Barbie doll riding a banana on the crown, has been commissioned to make a hat for Kate. The commission is all the more surprising because of Atkinson's very public disapproval of the royal family. Atkinson has been chosen to design a hat for one of Kate's most important engagements so far.  A risque choice: Kate has chosen Piers Atkinson, who normally designs headgear for eccentric pop star Lady Gaga. File pics She will model one of the Norfolk-born's creations -- beloved by eccentric pop diva Lady Gaga -- when she accompanies the Queen and Prince Philip to Leicester to launch the Diamond Jubilee tour. "Unfortunately, originality does tend to terrify the British," said Atkinson. "Outwardly we're all respectable, but we often have a naughty, repressed side to our nature."
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